Sweet Temptations
by joli.kawaii.ciel
Summary: Ciel needs a pâtissier for his new business venture. Sebastian became a pâtissier to fulfil a childhood promise to Ciel. Their paths cross and Sebastian becomes Ciel's pâtissier. Sebastian's problem is that Ciel doesn't remember Sebastian or their promise. Sebaciel. Modern AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Sweet Temptations:**

 **Chapter 1:**

"Next candidate," Ciel called out irritably and dropped yet another CV in the bin.

This series of interviews were going nowhere. If he was served another lumpy profiterole he vowed to hurl it at the person's face.

His secretary twitched nervously. "That was the last person."

Ciel checked his desk for the large pile of CVs that had been there in the morning. They were all now thrown in the bin. Was he ever going to get a pâtissier?

"Should I put the job advert out again?" his secretary questioned.

It was already five in the afternoon. Mey-Rin had a long day in the office with a boss that had been in a downright bad mood with everyone and everything. That was normal, however when faced with desserts that were not to his standards, he was even worse.

Relief came in the form of Ciel's female cousin peeking into the office.

"Ciel! Did you really kick them all out? What's with the pile of cake in the corner?" she enquired.

Ciel had recently made the decision to branch out from confectionery and toys to pâtisseries. It had made sense to everyone involved with the workings of the company. Ciel loved sweet things and was usually in a better mood when faced with cake. The selection of the locations had gone well. The hurdle they were stuck on was the hiring of a pâtissier. Everyone else required had been hired.

This was the fourth day of rejected candidates. Ciel was personally overseeing the interviews and no one had been up to his standards.

Lizzie picked up a banoffee pie from the reject pile. It was completely intact and looked like a child had made it.

"I guess you rejected this one for being too juvenile."

"Correct," was the cold answer.

"This one for being too bitter," she said for a beautifully decorated black forest gateau with a slice gone.

"Right again."

Next was an edible rock garden chocolate cake. She had no problems with guessing this one.

"This one for being too obviously inspired by the Great British Bake Off?"

Mey-Rin laughed awkwardly. "You know his taste so well. Perhaps you could do the interviews instead?"

Lizzie shook her head so hard that her bunches flew up.

"I really can't. Ciel is the ultimate connoisseur and it is his decision."

Her cousin shot her a small smile. Mey-Rin was sure that was the only time he had smiled for the past month.

"I will say that we aren't getting anywhere with the current hiring method," she continued. "Ciel, you either have to lower the standards or find a different way to get candidates."

Mey-Rin consulted the job advert they had been using. It offered a very generous salary and further opportunities. They had posted it everywhere available and sent it to agencies. The method had worked to a degree, there had been almost too many applications to deal with.

Ciel's gaze darkened and Mey-Rin shivered.

"You mean I should start poaching them from other companies?"

Lizzie smiled cheerfully. "If you give them a better offer, I'm sure they'll agree."

"That does sound like an idea," he agreed tentatively.

"Or you could look for people in unexpected places," she added. "Like charity cake sales."

"I'll leave that one up to you," Ciel said, very keen to have no involvement in that idea.

"You can ask your friends if they know anyone good," Mey-Rin suggested, eager to offer input.

Lizzie gave her a warning glance which caused Mey-Rin to remember too late that her boss didn't have any friends.

"That will be all, Mey-Rin," Ciel said in a flat tone. "You can go home."

* * *

The CEO of Funtom had a poor night's sleep due to the many cakes he had consumed over the past four days. By 2am Ciel had given up on getting any sleep and had taken countless indigestion tablets and was sitting up in bed with a book.

"How hard is it to bake a cake?" he sighed out loud, choosing to conveniently forget that he couldn't bake a cake either.

Ciel knew he had several options available. He could cancel the venture which would be costly and would mean a lot of people had wasted their time and would be a personal disappointment. He could continue with the current method and hope someone decent would finally turn up eventually. Or he could follow Lizzie's advice.

His cousin was his second in command and carried out any tasks that he disliked without complaint. She tended to have a different perspective to him, so it was always a good decision to take her advice.

He got out of bed and crept down the stairs to his study as quietly as he could. Ciel was unwilling to wake up Tanaka who was sleeping in the room closest to the stairs. Tanaka had been his father's butler and was faithful to him.

Once he was in his study with the door closed he stopped worrying about noise and switched his computer on. Tanaka was very strict about keeping Funtom matters to working hours so he didn't want Tanaka to find him searching for employees at half 2 in the morning.

The next hour was spent compiling a list of potential candidates. Some had won awards, others had just spent a long time in the industry and a few had gone to prestigious culinary schools. Fortunately all this information had been gained legally as it was always listed on companies' websites.

He sent the list to the printer and turned the computer off. He could read it in the morning. When he left the study, he found a cup waiting for him outside. A closer inspection revealed it to be a cup of honey and milk. Ciel was annoyed with himself for waking Tanaka up, but the combination of honey and milk managed to send him to sleep.

* * *

"Mey-Rin, contact the people on this list and offer them the job," he instructed the following morning.

His secretary accepted the list and flipped through it. She paused on one page and Ciel spotted a blush appearing on her face.

"Without nosebleeds," he said.

He was always close to firing Mey-Rin due to her nosebleeds over good looking men and her inability to perform most menial tasks. The past four days had seen numerous nosebleeds. Her good skills were that she kept his secrets and didn't mind when he said anything scathing to her. Those two skills were why he was still employing her.

"You're poaching from your biggest rival?" she asked when she turned another page. "I recognise this person."

Ciel's move into pâtisseries had partially been sparked by his biggest rival confectionery company opening a pop-up one in the middle of London. Funtom had kept an eye on its popularity and it had done well. Ciel was keen to open a permanent one before Michaelis Confectionery could do the same.

"When I visited the pop up, his cakes were good," Ciel explained. "He's likely to not be under full contract yet so we need to get him interested in ours first."

"That's a good plan," Mey-Rin complimented him.

Ciel didn't acknowledge the compliment as the outcome of his plan was unknown. He wondered how Lizzie's own suggestion would go.

"Is Lizzie here yet?" he asked.

Mey-Rin smiled. "She called me to say that she's going to be out all day looking for someone suitable. She sounded very sure of herself."

That was a cause for concern. When Lizzie had a goal set she always obtained it. He was expecting her to turn up at the end of the day with a line of people. Ciel wasn't ready to taste that many desserts again, his stomach still hadn't recovered yet.

"Warn me when she comes in," he requested.

* * *

At lunchtime he attempted to phone her to see if he could pin down where she was. She was not answering which was worrying. Either she was so into her mission that she hadn't noticed the phone ringing or she didn't want to talk to him.

Lizzie made her presence known around 3 in the afternoon. She bounded into his office triumphantly with Mey-Rin following in her wake.

"Lizzie's arrived," Mey-Rin said unnecessarily. "She got up here too fast for me to tell you."

"I've found someone!" Lizzie proclaimed excitedly. "Will you interview him? I left him downstairs."

Ciel was intrigued. Lizzie looked very sure that she had found the right person. He just wanted to know where she had found him.

"Where did you pick him up from?"

Lizzie smirked. "He was going for an interview at Michaelis Confectionery. As we suspected, they're also looking for people for their pâtisserie."

Her cousin was impressed at Lizzie's brazenness. He hadn't been expecting her to go as far as Michaelis Confectionery in her search. He couldn't have done it himself.

"Does he have a dessert with him?" he asked.

"It's very eye catching, that's why I spotted him getting out a taxi by their head office and guessed he was interviewing."

Ciel was even more impressed with her.

"Excellent. Send him up."

A few minutes later Lizzie showed a tall man carrying a cake box into his office. He was smartly dressed and his mid length dark hair was neatly arranged. Ciel's eyes passed over his physical appearance quickly in favour of eyeing up the cake.

"Good afternoon," the man said formally.

He was well spoken. Ciel's impression of him was good so far.

"I was on my way to an interview and now I'm here," he continued. "Miss Midford has been very persuasive. She's explained everything to me."

He didn't sound annoyed. Instead Ciel could hear traces of amusement in his tone.

"Are you okay with interviewing for the rival of Michaelis Confectionery?" Ciel enquired.

"I can always go back there if I fail here," the man assured him.

Lizzie patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck."

She discreetly withdrew herself from the office which left the two of them alone.

"My name is Sebastian," the interview candidate began. "Would you like to try my dessert?"

Ciel was so distracted by the sight of the cake that he forgot to ask for Sebastian's surname. This turned out to be a fortunate mistake.

It was a very lavish cake with only two layers, but the available area had been well utilised with neat piping and handmade chocolate ornaments. Ciel didn't even mind that it was a chocolate cake. The main question was if the structure would survive with a slice missing and if the slice would fall apart.

He picked up a knife from the collection he had been using for the interviews and cut a slice. It came out cleanly and the cake didn't even wobble which made Ciel sigh in satisfaction. He glanced over at Sebastian quickly enough to catch him smirking.

Ciel felt the need to explain the sigh. "Most people's cakes started to collapse when I cut into them."

"How is the taste?" Sebastian wanted to know.

Ciel took a mouthful and analysed the balance of the flavours. His personal enjoyment had to take second place in situations like this. The middle of the cake was blackberry jam which he hadn't been expecting. It offset the sweetness of the chocolate well. He finished the whole slice in a few seconds.

"It's well made and flavoured," he commented.

The interview followed the standard format after that. Ciel was impressed by Sebastian's credentials. It turned out that he had just returned from studying in France. Lizzie stuck her head in as the interview was wrapping up.

"Are you hiring him?" she asked with very obvious eagerness.

Sebastian winked at Ciel.

"He is."

Ciel had decided on that exact conclusion, but he wasn't going to let either of them know it.

"I haven't made my mind up yet," Ciel protested weakly. "I haven't actually seen your CV yet."

This was the first time that Sebastian looked perturbed.

"You might not want to hire me when you see it," he said. "I do have it here despite that."

Ciel's mind jumped to the conclusion that Sebastian didn't want him to see some bad school grades.

"I don't mind. You're the only decent interview candidate I've had. I'll hire you."

Lizzie whooped loudly and Sebastian smiled. Then he handed over his CV and Ciel immediately saw the incriminating surname.

Michaelis.

He had just hired the son of his biggest rival.

* * *

 **A/N: This story is going to have 10 chapters and no nasty plot twists.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sweet Temptations:**

 **Chapter 2:**

Lizzie took a nervous step back. "No wonder you were outside Michaelis Confectionery. I should have asked for your name."

Once Ciel had recovered from the initial shock, his mind started poking holes in Sebastian's story. He was still unwilling to believe that the perfect pâtissier from a moment ago could really be the child of his biggest rival. The surname had to be a coincidence.

"Are you actually their son? Or is your surname just the same?"

Michaelis wasn't exactly a common surname, but London was a large place. It wouldn't be unlikely that someone with the same surname was interested in confectionery.

"I am the child of the owners of Michaelis Confectionery," Sebastian confirmed.

Lizzie jumped in with her own questions.

"If you are their son, why were you interviewing for the pâtissier position there? Why didn't you say anything about being related on the way here?"

Sebastian was unperturbed by her questions.

"They shouldn't treat me differently to anyone else interviewing. My parents said that if I passed the interview they would hire me. I wouldn't get any special treatment."

Ciel was of the opinion that Sebastian's parents sounded as strict as his had been when they were alive. He had another reservation about hiring Sebastian. It was a rather important one.

"Are you sure you want to work for me and not your family company?"

Sebastian smiled widely. "I wasn't sure until I saw you."

Ciel blinked. Was that flirting? He couldn't be sure, but Lizzie's reaction which he could see behind Sebastian was a hint to the affirmative.

"I see. Will your relationship with your parents suffer?" he asked next.

Sebastian shook his head. "No. We're not too close. They'll hire someone else without thinking."

Those answers satisfied his curiosity and Ciel saw no reason to refuse Sebastian the job. He arranged to meet Sebastian again to sign the contract and explain his duties in detail. He saw Sebastian off in a taxi outside the building. Lizzie was still in his office when he returned and she had made two cups of tea. She handed one to him as he sat down.

"I'm sorry for not checking his name," she said with a piteous facial expression.

Ciel could tell that she had been expecting him to be annoyed with her.

"Aside from his familial connections, he is what I was looking so I'm not _that_ annoyed," he emphasised. "We just need to be more careful next time."

Lizzie looked relieved and started to sip her tea with vigour.

"At least he's not an undercover Police officer investigating our family for money laundering," she noted.

Ciel shot her a confused look. "That's an odd conclusion to come to. It's more obvious that he could be a spy for his parents."

His cousin calmly put her teacup down and looked at him in the eye.

"I'm assuming you have already thought of this before and have a plan. I didn't feel like he was a spy, that said, you're smarter than me."

Personally Ciel agreed with her. Sebastian had come across more as someone that flirted with him and his only ulterior motive if he had one, was to get close to him. He wouldn't be the first

"Firstly, it wouldn't be hard for Michaelis Confectionery to work out that we are opening a pâtisserie mainly because we have been actively recruiting. We have also only purchased one location which again they could find out through ordinary means. We didn't tell Sebastian anything confidential today. He will be signing a watertight contract before he gets told anything," Ciel explained. "If he is a spy, he hasn't gained any new knowledge from coming here."

Lizzie nodded. "I knew there was a reason you're the one in charge. You're so sneaky."

Ciel being Ciel took that as a compliment instead of an insult like a normal person would. He cut a slice of Sebastian's cake to have with his tea. Lizzie immediately cut herself one as well.

"It's delicious," she said enthusiastically after finishing the whole slice. "I see why you went for him so easily. Are you taking it home?"

"Of course I am... I need Tanaka's opinion," Ciel replied. "You can take another slice with you if you really want it..."

Lizzie sniggered. "No, you just want Sebastian's cake all to yourself. He seemed to be keen on you."

Ciel had been waiting for her to bring that up. He had a good way to stop her from mentioning it.

"Say that again and you can't take any of that cake."

Lizzie pouted and then turned the conversation onto business matters. The next hour between them was purely business matters and Ciel drew up Sebastian's strict contract. Most of the contract was standard until it came to the confidentiality clauses.

"So, he's going to have to pay you a million pounds if he passes on information and he can't work in a similar position for 24 months?" Lizzie summarised, sounding a little sceptical. "Is this even legal?"

"It should be a good deterrent," Ciel retorted. "Contracts like this do exist."

* * *

"It's a well-made cake," Tanaka commented and went to have another bite.

Ciel moved the cake from his grasp and looked up at him with defiant eyes.

"I want to finish it."

Tanaka looked like he wanted to sigh and was holding it back with great difficulty. "Young master, are you two or 22? There will be some left for your dessert."

The insult made Ciel relinquish his grip on the plate. He had managed to bring the remainder of the cake home unscathed. Mey-Rin had been hinting very heavily that she wanted to try some and Ciel had pretended not to notice like the considerate person he was.

"Have you hired the person that made this cake?" Tanaka asked.

"I have," Ciel confirmed.

His butler stared at him probingly. "Is there something you're not happy with? You don't look as relieved about finding someone perfect for the position as I thought you would."

Tanaka was always able to see through Ciel.

"His name is Sebastian Michaelis," Ciel told him.

"Is he related to the owners of your biggest rival?"

Ciel nodded. "Lizzie scouted him from outside their head office and he interviewed at Funtom instead. He said he didn't mind and he doesn't seem to be close to his parents. I'm just worried about him leaking anything."

Tanaka saw through him again. "You're worried about something else to do with him."

"I am," Ciel confirmed. "I'm just not sure what it is."

He placated himself by having more of the cake which worked until his butler's answer caused him to choke on it.

"Is he attractive?" Tanaka asked with a faint smile.

"I suppose he is by conventional standards," Ciel replied cautiously. "Mey-Rin certainly had enough nosebleeds."

"You've met before," Tanaka said mysteriously and changed the subject. "Young master, you are getting in the way of my dinner preparations."

He unceremoniously removed Ciel from the kitchen leaving him without the cake and mystery to solve. Had he really met Sebastian before? He hadn't recognised him at all. The fact he had hired him without knowing his surname attested to that.

Sebastian had been in France for the past 4 years so it had to be before that. The meeting would have occurred at somewhere Tanaka would have been present. Ciel couldn't think of much because Tanaka had no connections to Funtom. It couldn't be school either as Sebastian's school was on his CV and Ciel had gone to a completely different school.

Tanaka adroitly side stepped all his questions when he was serving dinner. Ciel resolved to ask him when he wasn't expecting it. Those attempts all ended in resounding failures and Tanaka began to look exhausted with him.

"Young master, if you are so curious, ask the person instead of me," Tanaka said to him when it was time to go to bed. "You said you had an appointment with him tomorrow."

Ciel had to admit Tanaka had a point there. It just felt like it would be an odd question to ask someone he had hired and he felt like Sebastian would tease him for asking.

* * *

Sebastian arrived promptly at 11 o'clock the next day. Ciel had decided that he didn't care about meeting Sebastian before so he wasn't going to ask. It was likely that they had met in passing at a party or gathering that was business related. The problem with that was that he didn't go to many of those.

"You've really locked in my contract," Sebastian observed once he had finished reading it. "I will sign it of course. I have no intention of spying on you or sabotaging your business."

He signed his name and then printed it neatly. Ciel took a moment to admire the precise penmanship.

"Do your parents know about me hiring you?"

He was genuinely curious about the answer. Sebastian's relationship with his parents came across oddly. Sebastian hadn't appeared bothered about their reaction the day before.

"They asked how you were doing and said to look after you," was the unhelpful answer. "They called me yesterday to ask why I didn't turn up. I explained and they said it didn't matter because they had hired someone else. It's not a problem."

Ciel nodded. He didn't realise that Mr and Mrs Michaelis were concerned about his wellbeing. Then again most people that knew about his parents always asked how he was doing.

"I see. Are you happy to proceed with everything? I'll tell you about the pâtisserie."

He received an affirmative so he dimmed the lights and turned the projector on and sat down next to Sebastian. He had a presentation prepared to explain the project. It was an updated one he had used to get approval for the project.

"Funtom is branching out into pâtisseries. We've seen a gap in the market and hope to fill it and exceed it. You have been hired to be the main attraction at our planned flapship location in Mayfair," Ciel said formally and changed the screen from market research stats to show a photo of the building and a small one of the interior.

The storefront of the pâtisserie was homely yet sophisticated enough to fit in with the street. The interior had been extensively remodelled to fit the needs of a pâtisserie.

Ciel always felt more confident when talking about business matters. He now felt like he could look at Sebastian without blushing.

"Your duties are to make the desserts to an exceptionally high standard and innovate new ones," Ciel continued. "We're looking to open in a week, the place has been fully equipped. I'm taking you to the location tomorrow so you can start working."

Ciel had been wanting to open for a while as the rent wasn't cheap and having an unused building wasn't making him money. The good location had come at a premium. Everything had been set in the place and now that he had Sebastian, it should all proceed smoothly.

"Will you visit me often?" Sebastian requested. "Don't you need to keep a close eye on me?"

"I'm going to be there every day until the opening," Ciel said sharply. "There's more than you to keep an eye on."

Sebastian smiled widely. "I will enjoy baking for you."

Ciel looked at him suspiciously. Did that constitute as flirting?

"I will see you there tomorrow," he said. "Mey-Rin will give you the address."

"It's a date," Sebastian said cheerfully.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sweet Temptations:**

 **Chapter 3:**

Ciel frowned and fought back a blush. Sebastian's flirtatious nature was getting on his nerves.

"We're meeting professionally, it's not a date," he corrected in a cold tone.

"If you say so," Sebastian said casually and got up from his chair. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Ciel watched him put on his coat and walk out the door. He breathed a sigh of relief only to have Sebastian stroll back in again.

"I'm guessing you don't remember me?" Sebastian asked and withdrew immediately.

Ciel groaned. His mysterious meeting with Sebastian had come to the forefront of his mind again. He had only just stopped wondering about it. He was going to have to pester Tanaka again now that he definitely knew Sebastian was going to tease him about it.

* * *

Sebastian obtained the address of the pâtisserie from a heavily blushing Mey-Rin who looked like she was swooning every time he spoke. He was well used to the effect his presence had. It was a shame that Ciel was resistant to it.

On his way down the corridor he encountered someone else that was resistant to his charms. Her glare and crossed arms didn't go with the frills on her dress.

"I thought I had seen you before," Elizabeth Midford observed with a triumphant tone to her voice.

Sebastian realised that she had overheard him talking to Ciel and felt a little hope spark. If she could remember him, shouldn't Ciel remember him?

"Let's have a talk about this," she continued and showed him into her office.

Her office was quite a contrast to her cousins. Instead of being plain and sterile with white walls and glass, it had a bright colourful scheme and looked more like the office of someone that worked in confectionery with cushions shaped like liquorice allsorts and bags of sweets on the shelves.

"Why doesn't Ciel's office look like this?" he asked as he sat down on the sofa and picked up a cushion.

"Ciel thinks that running the company means he can't have any fun," she replied. "That's why we've all been glad that he suggested the pâtisserie because he enjoyed coming up with it and planning it."

It was true that Ciel had looked more animated when he had been showing him all the details regarding the pâtisserie.

"I didn't scout you because I recognised you. You looked to be right and you had an attractive cake, that's all," she warned. "I only recognised you just now. It's been a long time."

Sebastian took that as 'I didn't ask you to interview because I wanted you to date my cousin.'

"How come you remember meeting me and Ciel doesn't?" he asked.

He had been delighted when Elizabeth had told him that he could interview at Funtom because that had meant seeing Ciel earlier than planned. Naturally he had been disappointed when Ciel had shown no signs of recognition. At least Ciel had liked his cake. He could console himself with that.

"I am a year older than him," Elizabeth reminded him. "It was also 12 years ago. Do you know what happened a week after that party?"

A week later Sebastian had been sent to boarding school and hadn't known any details from the outside world until he had come home for the Christmas holidays. It had been shocking to be told the news about the Phantomhive family.

"His parents died in a fire."

"That's right. Ciel doesn't remember much from that time and it has affected him greatly. We still don't know if it was suicide, an accident or murder. Not knowing what truly happened to his parents had an impact on Ciel," Elizabeth explained.

"What happened to him after that?"

"My family adopted him and he lived with us. The company was run by associates until Ciel was old enough. Now all he does is work," she complained. "I'm open to you being around him for that reason. But I have a request."

Sebastian had been expecting that. It would be strange if she let him near her cousin without making things clear.

"Don't force him to remember you. Let it happen naturally and if it never happens, start from the beginning again."

"I understand," he replied. "Am I allowed to leave now?"

Elizabeth sat down behind her desk and nodded.

"Remember what I've told you," she warned.

* * *

The temperature dropped steeply the next day and Ciel stood outside the pâtisserie wishing he had brought his scarf with him. The temperature always shot down at this time of year, he should have seen it coming. If he had to wait another minute for Sebastian, he was going to have to dock his pay.

Fortunately for both of them Sebastian chose that moment to turn up. Sebastian took in the sight of Ciel shivering and unwound his scarf and held it out to Ciel.

"You need this more than me," he said.

Ciel accepted begrudgingly and took out the keys to unlock the door. The alarm went off as soon as they stepped inside and Ciel quickly deactivated it.

"You could have waited inside for me," Sebastian noted. "I had the address."

"I thought you might miss it because the sign is covered."

"Is that your way of hiding from Michaelis Confectionery?" Sebastian teased. "What is this place going to be called? The photos you showed me didn't have a name."

Ciel took a folder out of his bag and found a design of the sign.

"It's nothing special. It's going to match all our other products. 'Funtom's Cakes' with the same style of writing and the cat logo," he informed Sebastian and showed him the design.

"I like it, it shows consistency," Sebastian commented and then switched his attention to the room they were in.

The interior design had clearly cost a lot of money. The floor was marbled with intricate designs that contained the Funtom logo and the lights in the ceiling were works of art. The counter took up most of one side of the shopfloor and was set up to display every kind of dessert.

Ciel noticed him looking and began his tour.

"You won't need to worry much about this, however I will give you a tour. This area here will display all the products, behind the counter is the door to the kitchen where you will be. There's some seating and alcoves here."

Sebastian was able to appreciate how the limited space had been used to look cosier, but not claustrophobic.

"Through here is the main area for customers," Ciel lead the way past the counter into another room that opened up into an vast seating area with a fireplace at one end.

"It's perfect for people who think afternoon tea is actually a thing," Sebastian observed wryly. "I like the fireplace and the chandelier."

"It will be good for foreign tourists," Ciel agreed. "I've analysed a lot of factors for this. We need to have an upmarket British aesthetic for the tourists, but not too much that it puts off people that live here as well as domestic tourists."

"Capitalising on both markets, you've thought this out," Sebastian said admiringly. "I don't know if my parents have considered that."

Ciel wasn't sure if Sebastian was hinting that he had done a better job than Michaelis Confectionery and chose to answer cautiously.

"Their pop-up pâtisserie was very modern and minimalist so there shouldn't be much overlap. We're going to the kitchen next."

The kitchen was completely different to the shopfloor. It was brightly lit and had stainless steel everywhere. It also had all the right equipment for the size of the shop.

"You won't be the only person working here, other kitchen staff have been hired," Ciel added. "You're in charge of deciding the items and working on large pieces. "Can you make something now? All ingredients are fully stocked."

"Are you testing me?" Sebastian teased.

"No, I'm hungry," Ciel corrected. "Find me when you're done."

Ciel sat down at a table next to a radiator and pulled out his laptop. There were still lots of things to arrange, he had opening ceremony to work on and his normal workload to manage. Lizzie phoned him five minutes later when he was calculating the budget for the opening event. He had a few ideas for promotion already.

"How's Sebastian?" was the first thing she asked.

"He's hard at work in the kitchen," Ciel answered. "I'm working on the opening event, how fancy should it be?"

"Give out free samples and reduce the prices of actual cakes down to suitable introductory prices, get Sebastian to design a few showstoppers," she suggested.

That was in line with the ideas Ciel had come up with. Lizzie always came up with a few that were more imaginative than his though.

"Shall we get any social media influencers?" she added. "Personally, I find them annoying and don't think they affect much, but I can get hold of some if you like."

Ciel always left anything social media related up to Lizzie due to his social ineptitude. He had no idea about social media trends and found them tiresome when Mey-Rin gave him details.

"If you think it's annoying and not worth it, don't do it," he advised.

"I'll get the marketing manager to advertise the opening on the usual channels," she said. "Has Sebastian been flirting with you?"

Ciel thought back to all their exchanges in the past half an hour. The problem was that he wasn't sure what constituted as flirting and what wasn't.

"He gave me his scarf because I was cold, does that count?"

There was a silence on the other end of the phone line. He guessed that he had shocked her with his ignorance on the topic.

"...That might count as having normal concern for another person. Anything else?"

"He's been complimenting me a lot about Funtom's Cakes?"

"You've been working hard and it's been well designed, of course you should be complimented."

It felt a little different when Lizzie complimented him. He was still happy to receive a compliment from her, but he had felt warm inside when Sebastian had said it. Perhaps Lizzie complimented him too often.

"Here's your second breakfast," Sebastian's voice announced from very close by.

Ciel looked up to see Sebastian standing over him with a plate of waffles. How long had he been standing there? He wasn't showing any signs of overhearing their conversation. If he had, Sebastian would be teasing him.

"Your cake is cooling right now. You can have it after I've put the cream in," Sebastian continued. "Let me know how the waffles taste."

He placed the plate of waffles on the table and closed the laptop. Ciel didn't bother to protest as his eyes were strained from staring at the screen.

"Don't eat and work at the same time," he said and headed off back to the kitchen.

Ciel looked down at the plate of waffles. There was a waffle machine in the kitchen. He didn't realise that it made heart shaped waffles. There were more hearts in the form of neatly cut strawberries and strawberry syrup.

He checked his phone to see if Lizzie was still on the line so he could ask an important question.

"Does making heart shaped food count as flirting?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Sweet Temptations:**

 **Chapter 4:**

"Don't you think Sebastian is so hot?"

Ciel's ears pricked up and he sighed. Today all employees were at the pâtisserie to prepare for opening. It was the first time all of them had met each other and Ciel had already listened to enough people talk about how good-looking Sebastian was.

He cleared his throat and spoke in his iciest tone.

"If you have time to talk about how hot Sebastian is, you've got enough spare time on your hands to date check all the perishable ingredients in the kitchen chiller."

The employee in question rapidly shut up and Ciel went back to checking expenditures only to be interrupted again by the subject of the conversation.

"So, you think I'm hot?" Sebastian asked with a wide grin.

"Depends on the cake," Ciel replied half-heartedly. After a week with Sebastian he had become accustomed to all the slimy behaviour and lines that he now knew were definitely flirting. It had started out simply with heart shaped cakes and the occasional line, now Sebastian seemed to spend all his spare energy on coming up with pickup lines.

"I'm on break," Sebastian replied and then pulled out a cake stand from behind his back. "I'm spending it with you."

Ciel evaluated the cake. It was a simple Victoria sponge, but he was content with that. The two layers of plain sponge were impeccably even and the cream was neatly piped. He pulled out the chair next to him.

"You can sit down."

"What an honour," Sebastian said and cut him a slice. "Why don't you work in the manager's office, it would be less chaotic."

"I can keep an eye on everyone here."

Ciel accepted the plate and the fork and dug in. It tasted plain and simple after tasting all the other sweet treats that Sebastian had made him. He quickly became aware that Sebastian was watching him very closely.

"Yes?"

Sebastian continued staring at him.

"Does it taste familiar?"

"I've tasted numerous Victoria sponges over the years," Ciel replied.

To say he was confused was an understatement. Sebastian didn't normally ask that when he let him try his creations. It was an odd question.

"Describe the taste," Sebastian instructed.

Ciel did as ordered. Perhaps Sebastian would enlighten him after he had answered.

"The vanilla flavouring is very potent and it's sweeter than a normal Victoria sponge. There's also too much jam. In fact, it tastes more like a child made it than someone skilled like you."

Sebastian fluffed Ciel's hair and smiled dazzlingly at him. "That's the answer I was looking for."

"Really?"

Now Ciel was even more confused. Had he overworked Sebastian into a state where he asked strange questions?

"Yes. Does it taste familiar?"

It was that question again. Ciel tried his best to think, but it was such a commonplace cake to make. Then he frowned. He had an idea why the question had been asked.

"Is this something related to when we met before?"

"That's right," Sebastian smiled. "I'll leave you to dwell on it."

Sebastian turned away and left Ciel alone to wonder why he had hired someone so weird. Were the wonderful desserts worth it? What had happened when they met for the first time?

"Hey," one of the new employees approached him rudely. "Is Sebastian single?"

Ciel looked at her. She had black curly hair and a lot of dark eyeliner. He had absolutely no idea what her name was as he'd left the HR department to employ the regular employees. This one was very confident and didn't seem to care that he was the CEO.

"Ask him yourself," he replied tartly and returned to his work.

Another issue on his mind was the efficiency of other employees in Sebastian's presence. They never seemed to do any work and stood around talking about him. He reminded himself that he only had a few days left and it would be the manager's problem then.

"Sebastian doesn't like females," a gruff voice spoke up.

Ciel looked round to see that the manager had finally managed to discover the slacking off employees. Bardroy was often absent due to regular cigarette breaks. Judging from the very strong smell of smoke he had just come back from one. Ciel wanted to have a word with him about those.

"Well, how do you know?" the dark-haired employee retorted. "You're just guessing."

"Miss Beast, he told me himself and you should be more focused on your job than whether or not Sebastian will date you," Bardroy informed her.

Ciel found that exchange intriguing. Firstly, Sebastian wasn't straight and secondly, Bardroy had the right priorities. Perhaps he was the best person for the job.

Beast stormed off in a huff and Bardroy waved cheerfully after her. He then spotted Ciel and ambled over.

"If you don't want to hear the chicks going on about Sebastian, you can just work in my office," he said.

That was beginning to sound very tempting. Then again, Bardroy had made it clear that none of the females were going to get anything by flirting with Sebastian. He could even see everyone that had been hanging around dispersing.

"I will if it gets worse. How is the training going?"

The days before opening were supposed to be used for training employees on the products and procedures, however Ciel was sure that half of the time had been training and the other half had been spent gossiping.

"They've all got basic health and safety and food safety down," Bardroy explained. "Some of them are really good on product knowledge, others need a lot more practise."

"We open in two days," Ciel warned him. "This will count in your review. Make sure they're trained."

The thought of having incompetent staff for the opening pained him. Ciel had been anticipating having the patisserie open since he hired the location and now it didn't feel as idyllic as it had been in his mind. He packed up his laptop and paperwork. He was due for a break and everyone was giving him a headache. Perhaps he had taken on too many responsibilities.

Ciel peeped into the kitchen and locked gazes with Sebastian who was placing chocolate chip cookies on a cooling rack. Was Sebastian the cause of all his stress? He should have hired someone less attractive.

"Did you come for more food?" Sebastian asked with a smile. "I just made these."

He had one in Ciel's mouth before he could reply. Ciel didn't mind though because they were perfect. Maybe Sebastian was the right person after all.

"What's wrong with you? You don't normally seek me out."

It was true. Sebastian always turned up by him, it was never the other way around.

"I'm finding things irritating. Bardroy isn't around enough, you're distracting all the females and they keep talking about you. I want this place to be open so I can stop worrying, but then I'll have more things to worry about when it's open."

It was a relief to finally say it all out loud. Sebastian was silent for a moment.

"Your cousin did say you work too much. Stay here for a while, it will just be us two."

Sebastian pulled out a stool and indicated he should sit down. Ciel took a seat doubtfully and watched Sebastian start making a cake. It was interesting to see how efficient he was.

"What are you making now?"

The amount of sweet treats Sebastian had made in a short time was impressive. Ciel was beginning to reconsider if other kitchen staff were needed. Sebastian could probably manage all the output on his own.

"Fondant fancies."

Ciel's mouth began to water. Fondant fancies were something he had always been fond of. The combination of cake, buttercream and fondant icing was always good. Admittedly he had tried some the previous week during the interviews and they had been a little off putting. Sebastian hadn't produced anything terrible yet so his faith in fondant fancies could be redeemed.

By now Sebastian had mostly finished making the cake batter. He gave it a final stir and started pouring it into a cake tin.

"Do you want to eat the rest of the mix?" Sebastian offered. "The risk of Salmonella is low."

Ciel had eaten enough cake mix over the years to not care about Salmonella. Cases of Salmonella in the UK were almost non-existent due to strict controls on chickens.

"I'll take it," he said and picked up the bowl and a spoon.

"The cake is going to take 40 minutes to bake," Sebastian said and set the timer. "Do you want to go out and get something to drink?"

Ciel was going to protest that they could easily get a drink from Funtom's Cakes to give the employees a test but realised that he really was getting fatigued of Funtom's Cakes, so he agreed.

"Let me get my coat," he said and shovelled down the rest of the cake mix.

* * *

"Do you like coffee?" Sebastian asked as they walked down the street.

"Only the really sweet ones," Ciel said and shivered.

The temperature had really dropped in the past week and he was finding his woolly gloves insufficient and resorted to having his hands in his pockets.

"Coffeeshops are interesting places," his pâtissier continued on. "We could have met in one after you spilled coffee on me and developed a relationship."

Ciel shot him a confused look. Sometimes Sebastian sounded like he read the same romantic rubbish that Mey-Rin liked reading. He only knew because he had caught her reading them on his office sofa when she had thought he was on a business trip. Ciel had taken a brief look through them after confiscating them and was sure there had been one with a plot involving Starbucks.

"What on earth have you read to sound as lame as you do?" Ciel demanded.

Instead of looking offended Sebastian looked over the moon that he had asked.

"I've read a lot of romance in the past week so I can court you."

Court him? Ciel snorted. It wasn't like no one had ever flirted with him, it was more that Sebastian had interesting methods.

"Will you allow me to court you?" Sebastian asked.

Ciel narrowed his eyes. He was sure that Sebastian had an ulterior motive. Only likely one came to mind.

"Is it so the female employees stop bothering you? Beast is very... keen on you."

Sebastian leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"I'm keen on you."

Ciel pushed him away. His ear was ticklish so he hadn't appreciated Sebastian's lips touching his ear.

"I'm keen on your cakes," he retorted.

"I'll have to work harder until you like me more than my baking," the pâtissier replied easily. "Shall we go to Starbucks? There's one nearby."

It was too easy to point out that there was always a Starbucks nearby no matter where you were in London, but Ciel wanted to make something else known.

"We're not going to a coffeeshop just so you can get me to spill coffee on you and tell me that I owe you with my body."

Sebastian burst out laughing.

"I think someone else reads too much romance," he paused for a moment. "Let's find an independent one and not spill coffee on each other."

After ten minutes they found one that was to both their specifications. The only problem was the long queue. Ciel was worried about Sebastian's cake burning. He wouldn't be able to have fondant fancies if they got back too late.

He tapped Sebastian's shoulder. "What about the cake?"

Sebastian turned round and pulled his cheek. "How cute, you're concerned about the future of your fondant fancies."

"Aren't you worried?"

Sebastian smiled. "The oven has a timer. We can take all the time we like."

Ciel felt a little embarrassed. He should have thought about that sooner. Sebastian wasn't stupid enough to stray too far if he had a cake in the oven.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to leave Funtom's Cakes alone once it's open?" Sebastian questioned. "You're very concerned about it."

Sebastian was right. He couldn't leave it alone. He had too much invested in it, emotionally and monetary.

"I'll visit occasionally," he admitted.

"Twice a week," Sebastian said immediately. "Promise?"

He held out his shortest finger and Ciel wound his own around it without thinking too deeply. It was a promise that felt a little familiar.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sweet Temptations:**

 **Chapter 5:**

That night Ciel had an odd dream that felt strangely realistic for a dream. He was at a garden party and his parents were still alive. Sebastian was also there with a Victoria sponge cake and an outstretched finger. In his dream Ciel made a pinky promise very happily, but when he woke up he couldn't remember why.

Ciel cursed Sebastian loudly for permeating his dreams and went back to sleep after venting his frustration on his pillow. There was only one day until opening and he needed the sleep.

* * *

Ciel made a special visit to Funtom's Cakes with Lizzie four days later. Lizzie had been there for the opening as Ciel didn't like to be in press photos. He preferred that Lizzie was the public face on Funtom and she was certainly a lot better at public speaking and socialising than him. After the opening day neither of them had been free to visit due to other business commitments.

Both of them could see the sales figures from the office so there wasn't much need to go there in person. Lizzie claimed to be going for the cake as did Ciel. In reality Lizzie wanted to talk to Sebastian and Ciel was keeping his promise.

On first glance the queue to the door looked to be a positive sign. Lizzie optimistically declared it to be because of popularity, but Ciel pointed out that it could just be someone incompetent on the till. Lizzie told him to stop being so pessimistic and they had their normal disagreement over their differing personalities.

Sebastian checked the cake he had just taken out of the oven with a skewer and it came out clean. He laid it gently on a cooling rack. He needed to wait a while before it was cool enough for icing.

"I'm going on break now," he announced to the other kitchen staff.

They all looked disappointed that he would dare take a break and leave them helpless in the kitchen. Sebastian had found the other kitchen staff were in awe of him in an annoying way. They oohed and aahed over anything he did no matter how menial it was. They also always asked his approval on anything they did.

He went to the changing room to change out of his uniform. Sebastian debated on whether he should text Ciel and remind him of his promise. That promise being the one from four days ago not 12 years ago.

As it turned out he didn't have to because he spotted Ciel and his cousin in the queue as he walked through the pâtisserie. He smiled widely.

"Ciel," he called out loudly. "Did you come to see me?"

"No, I came to see how busy it is," was the immediate reply from his favourite person.

Sebastian could tell by now when Ciel was lying, but he was kind enough not to point it out.

"You told me you came for cake," Lizzie interjected.

Ciel's eyes moved shiftily and Sebastian knew he hadn't told his cousin about their promise. It was probably for the best considering she was one of the few people that knew about their meeting 12 years ago.

"Aren't you two going to use your credentials to skip the queue?" Sebastian asked.

"That's not good for our image," Ciel argued.

Sebastian looked around at the pâtisserie. Every table was full and all the staff were busy. As the main source of the sweet treats, he should be worried, but he knew he had enough backlog of cake to last the day.

"I'll let you two have some cake. I made some fondant fancies this morning," he added meaningfully.

Ciel perked up noticeably and Lizzie giggled.

"I see you know about Ciel's love of fondant fancies."

"Let's eat them in Bardroy's office, I'll turf him out," Ciel said ruthlessly.

Clearly nothing was getting in the way of his cake eating. Ciel led the way up the narrow staircase to the office and Bardroy left immediately, assuming that Ciel wanted to do actual work in there. Neither Lizzie or Sebastian disillusioned him.

Lizzie collared Sebastian on his way to retrieve the fondant fancies. Sebastian knew she wasn't here to ask about cake.

"You've made a lot of progress," she observed. "Ciel's told me a few things here and there."

"I'm doing my best, however he still hasn't shown any signs of remembering," Sebastian replied. "I will just have to start from the beginning."

Lizzie stared at him silently for a moment and Sebastian waited for her answer. He could tell that she didn't fully approve of the situation but wanted her cousin to be happy.

"Ciel... has been looking more content this week so I'm willing to help you out."

To say that Sebastian was over the moon to hear that was an understatement. He had been worried that he had no effect on Ciel whatsoever. To hear that it was the opposite was reassuring.

"I'm glad to hear that," he told her sincerely.

"Hurry up and get the fondant fancies before Ciel gets annoyed with you," was all she said before going back up the stairs.

It took a few minutes to retrieve from their hiding place and make sure that they were unblemished. He had concerns about someone finding them and serving them to customers. Bardroy met him outside the kitchen to hand him a tray with a teapot and three cups.

"Miss Midford told me a few days ago that he likes Earl Grey, tea" Bardroy said.

Bardroy was probably the person that Sebastian was the closest to at Funtom's Cakes. He was always reminding the female staff members to leave Sebastian alone and to stop peering into the kitchen to see him. Sebastian had suspected that Bardroy wanted him and Ciel to get together and now his suspicions were confirmed.

"Thank you," he said and carefully carried the tray across the congested shop floor and up the stairs. It wouldn't do to drop anything.

When he opened the door, he found Ciel and Lizzie had made themselves comfortable in someone else's office. Ciel had opened the window and Lizzie was spraying perfume around. It was a little too sweet for Sebastian's standards.

"It smells too much like smoke in here," she explained to him. "Ciel has asthma."

"You've just made it colder by opening the window," Sebastian reminded Ciel. "Aren't you always cold?"

Ciel shot him a sour look and closed the window. Lizzie put away her perfume bottle and sighed.

"I should leave this one for Bardroy, it's too sweet for someone my age to wear. He can use it to make this place smell sweeter. It's a pâtisserie after all."

"I'm sure a 40 year old chain smoker will appreciate the gesture," Ciel retorted and then his nose zeroed in on the contents of the tray Sebastian was still holding.

"Is that Earl Grey?" he asked hopefully.

Sebastian was glad for Lizzie and Bardroy. They hadn't led him up the garden path; Ciel really did like Earl Grey.

"You're like a bloodhound for Earl Grey," he said as he placed the tray down on the table. "How much sugar?"

Ciel's reply was completely unpredicted.

"I used to have a dog called Sebastian."

Lizzie snorted and shot him a look of amusement. Sebastian was glad that someone was having fun at his expense. He didn't bother to get her back as he needed to stay on her good side.

"I hope you treat me better than your dog," he replied and started pouring out the tea.

"Didn't you used to sleep with Sebastian in your bed when it was cold?" Lizzie asked with a glance at the human Sebastian.

Sebastian started and realised he had overfilled a teacup. He had been a little distracted by the mental image his mind had summoned up. Elizabeth Midford really was testing him.

"I might have done. I don't remember," Ciel replied.

Lizzie didn't speak at all until Sebastian served them tea and fondant fancies. Sebastian was of the opinion that she hadn't wanted to remind Ciel that he couldn't remember much from his childhood.

"Here's your tea," he said to Ciel. "Did I get the amount of sugar right? I had to guess."

Judging from the way that Ciel's face lit up when he took a sip, he had guessed it right. It probably helped that 10 year-old Ciel had told that he liked having four sugar cubes in his tea. It could be classed as having insider information.

"You did," Ciel replied and put the tea down to take a bite of the fondant fancy.

"You put too much in mine," Elizabeth commented. "Ciel's the one with the unbeatable sweet tooth."

The cousins began to talk business matters when Bardroy returned. The five minutes before had been spent discussing Ciel's infallible sweet tooth.

"The sales figures and footfall have been higher than we predicted. We've been reading all the reviews and customer feedback," Lizzie said. "We're having this discussion with both you because you're an important part of the business."

"The reviews for Sebastian's baking have been very good to say the least," Ciel continued. "We're happy with you in the role. As for Bardroy..."

Bardroy sat up very straight in his chair and Sebastian could see a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. It was clear that whilst Bardroy might want the two of them together romantically, he still found Ciel intimidating.

"We have no problems at present," Ciel told him. "You've smoothed over customers complaints well so far."

"You have a hard job because this is the first branch and there's no precedent for you," Lizzie said kindly.

Bardroy sank down in his chair and looked more relaxed.

"I feel like there's a but coming," he muttered.

"There is," Sebastian whispered to him.

He could tell when Ciel was keeping something back. He also had a good idea of what Ciel was going to say.

"We just would prefer if you were more available. Sullivan told Lizzie that she needed you and it took too long to find you. Perhaps less fag breaks?"

It was odd to hear Ciel use such a crude term. Sebastian was a little surprised, but it seemed get the point across.

"I think we've discussed everything that needs to be said. We'll be back next week to check up," Ciel announced twenty minutes later. "I'll send the new targets through later."

Bardroy left quickly as he was being called by someone. Lizzie parted with them at the bottom of the stairs to talk to the staff which left Ciel and Sebastian alone together.

"Don't you need to get back to the kitchen now?" Ciel asked. "I'm suspicious of how long they can survive without you."

"I am too," Sebastian admitted. "They rely on me too much. Surely they can make simple things from a recipe I gave them without asking my approval on everything."

"I'll mention it to Bardroy. It's not an efficient way to work. You still check everything they make before it goes out?"

"It's my job to," Sebastian assured him and checked his watch. "I should really be back there now."

His CEO shrugged. "I won't dock your pay for being late. I'm nice like that."

Sebastian smiled. He really was getting on well with Ciel. Perhaps if he asked him on a date, Ciel would accept?

"You are too kind to me," he laughed. "When are you visiting next?"

Ciel checked his phone and spent a while frowning over it.

"I'm not free until next week. I would have to miss something important if you want me to visit before then. I don't really have time in my lunch breaks either-this place is too far away."

Sebastian's face fell. He had become accustomed to seeing Ciel regularly. It wouldn't be fair to encroach on Ciel's business hours either. Then he had an idea.

"I finish at midday on Friday, I can visit you with some cake."

Ciel looked up from his phone with a happier expression. "I have half an hour free then."

"It's a date," Sebastian said.

Ciel simply nodded and Sebastian celebrated internally at the lack of reaction. He was getting closer to Ciel's heart.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sweet Temptations:**

 **Chapter 6:**

The next few days passed by quickly for Ciel who had multiple issues to deal with. Everything had been running smoothly with the pâtisserie, it was the other parts of the business that were going wrong. There was a storm that delayed the shipment of supplies for confectionery and toy which delayed production and caused a range of annoying issues.

It was a difficult situation to resolve so by the time Sebastian turned up at his office door with a tiered lunchbox, he was very happy to see him. Not that he would show it, he just wanted sleep. He hadn't been home for three days and Tanaka had been dropping off clothes for him.

"Hello, is that my lunch?" he asked with a weak smile and held back a yawn.

Sebastian approached his desk.

"When was the last time you had any sleep?" he enquired after seeing Ciel's eyes.

Ciel knew he looked a mess with his bloodshot eyes and messy hair.

"Don't ask," he groaned. "I'm slightly glad to see you; you're a part of the only Funtom business that's running without any hitches at the moment

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sebastian answered. "Has the situation been resolved?"

As he spoke he started laying out the lunch boxes and Ciel sat up from his slouched position. He was seeing some things he liked. It was odd that Sebastian always seemed to know what his favourite foods were.

"We've found alternative suppliers for everything this morning and then I have my regular work to keep on top of. I'm glad nothing is wrong with the pâtisserie."

"Well..." Sebastian said and broke off.

Ciel began to feel some dread pooling in his empty stomach. There probably had been problems they weren't reporting.

"...What is it?"

"You're not there," Sebastian told him sadly.

Ciel went through a rollercoaster of emotions with that line. Firstly, he was relieved that nothing really was wrong and then he processed the implied meaning of it and his face heated up.

"You had me concerned there," he sighed. "I'm not going to be able to go there for even longer so you're going to have to get used to it."

Was that a pout he could see on Sebastian's face? Admittedly he was a little disappointed with having no free time as he did find the pâtisserie a welcome break from the more hectic areas of the business.

He checked the time and was saddened to see how much time had already passed.

"I don't have much free time, I have a meeting in half an hour and Lizzie needs to brief me on her matters."

Sebastian took the hint and passed him a knife and fork and introduced the different options.

"To start with there's a croque monsieur, salad and fruit. Then blueberry cheesecake for dessert and cheese straws for a snack later."

They all looked freshly made and Ciel eagerly started to eat. His breakfast had been a cup of tea and a packet of Funtom boiled sweets. His stomach had been protesting for a few hours.

"Bardroy told me about the issues you've been having for the past few days. Has it impacted sales?"

"It will impact future sales," Ciel corrected him. "There's enough stock for current shipments. Lizzie resolved the toy supplier issues yesterday and found some alternative ones in this country and I've had more trouble with the confectionery as it's not so simple."

Sebastian nodded and Ciel was pleased to see that Sebastian did understand. He was also pleased to eat his food. Something that he wasn't pleased about was the fact that Sebastian had been watching him the whole time.

"Did you already eat?" he asked.

"I have," his pâtissier confirmed. "I just like seeing how happy you are eating things I've made."

Tanaka sometimes said things like that to Ciel and he had never understood why people felt that way. His lack of understanding probably stemmed from never making anything for another person.

His eyes started to close and not open around the time he was finishing off the cheesecake. His stomach was content and he was comfortably warm. He snapped his eyes open and suppressed a yawn. He couldn't fall asleep now. There was too much to do and he couldn't leave it no matter how tired he was.

"I think you should take a break this afternoon," Sebastian said gently.

His words sounded like they were coming from very far away and Ciel's head slumped forward and he fell asleep before he could protest.

* * *

Ciel's eyes slowly opened at the sound of someone speaking nearby. All he could see was the white ceiling of his office in the dim light. As he woke up he began to take in more details. He was lying on the sofa in his office with a blanket on top of him.

He sat up and wiped the sleep from his eyes. His office lights were dimmed and he realised that Sebastian was sitting at his desk reading a book. His eyes zeroed in on the cover of the book and he knew that Mey-Rin had donated Sebastian one of her trashy romance books.

His eyes strayed to the clock and his heart skipped a beat. He had been asleep for two hours and had missed his meeting. Admittedly he felt very refreshed, but he had too much to do.

"You should have woken me up," he groaned.

Sebastian put the book down and walked over to sit next to him.

"Someone else represented you at the meeting," he informed him. "You fell asleep right after eating and I didn't have the heart to wake you up. Lizzie told me that you've been here for two days straight and haven't slept."

"She's exaggerating, I slept for four hours the night before last night."

He pulled the blanket off and something started to dawn on him. The meeting had either been cancelled which was unlikely or someone else had gone instead of him.

"You didn't represent me at the meeting, did you?" he asked.

Sebastian might now be close to him, but he was still the son of his rivals. Much to his relief Sebastian shook his head.

"When you fell asleep, I told Elizabeth and she worked out what to do with you. She printed off some files from your computer and gave them to someone called Edward and sent him to the meeting. I hope you trust him."

"He's my other cousin, he'll do anything Lizzie tell him," Ciel explained. "He's competent."

"Your secretary took on some of your other tasks and gave me some books to entertain me while you were asleep."

Sebastian produced a whole pile of romance novels, some with lurid covers and Ciel sighed. Sebastian had probably learnt even more pickup lines from them. He retrieved a bottle of water from his desk and sat back down.

"I'm amazed at how popular Italian millionaire playboys are," Sebastian commented. "In fact, I think all of them had a rich man as the love interest. It's like our relationship."

Ciel choked on the water.

"No, it's not!" he protested with a red face.

"What's the difference?" Sebastian asked with an innocent expression on his face.

Ciel had a suspicion that Sebastian was enjoying flustering him.

"If I'm the rich protagonist, I should be the one flirting with you and you're supposed to be pure and innocent. Additionally, you should a type of person I've spent years yearning for."

As he spoke he knew he had given away that he'd read a lot of rubbish romance stories, however he knew he could blame it all on Mey-Rin. Sebastian looked amused.

"You spent a while searching for the perfect pâtissier," he pointed out. "Then you found me."

Ciel could see where he was going with his parallels. He elected to put an end to the subject of the conversation.

"We're not in a romantic relationship," he protested.

"I want-"

Sebastian was cut off by Mey-Rin and Lizzie pushing the door open quietly. Ciel guessed they were the voices that hard woken him up.

"Ciel, you're up!" Lizzie exclaimed happily. "I can't believe you fell asleep eating dessert."

"You talk too loudly; you woke me up," Ciel complained.

Mey-Rin rushed to the pile of her books and attempted to hide them behind her back. Ciel raised an eyebrow at her.

"I thought I had banned them to improve the quality of your reading content," he said icily.

If she hadn't lent them to Sebastian he wouldn't have had to go through that uncomfortable conversation.

"It won't happen again," she promised and promptly left them.

Lizzie stared after her in confusion.

"Have you banned her from reading romance? I mean they are terrible, but it's her choice."

"He did," Sebastian confirmed and nudged him. "He's a spoilsport."

Lizzie looked like she wanted to tell him off again.

"Let's put that matter aside. I came to send you home. Tanaka is waiting outside in the car. Go home and get some sleep. There's a shareholder meeting tomorrow," she said. "I've finished your work for you and Edward has done your other duties."

Ciel nodded. Although he felt refreshed from his nap, he had no desire to stare at a computer screen for several hours straight for a while. It was now 3 o'clock in the afternoon. He should go home so he could be ready for tomorrow. Then he remembered that if Sebastian was still here, he wasn't at the pâtisserie making cakes.

"Shouldn't you be at Funtom's Cakes?" he asked.

"Bardroy said they could survive without me for a few hours. Someone had to stay here with you," Sebastian said.

He appeared to be completely unconcerned about the pâtisserie.

"Fine. Just go back there now," he ordered. "You know how incompetent they are without you."

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "You're very insulting to people at Funtom's Cakes that aren't Sebastian."

"I like it like that," Sebastian offered his opinion.

"Of course you do," she said. "Ciel, Tanaka is waiting outside the building, don't keep him waiting."

Ciel got to his feet and went to pack up only to find that Sebastian had done it already and all he needed was his coat.

"I'll walk you out and go back to the pâtisserie," Sebastian said and led the way.

"I hope I didn't make your afternoon too boring," Ciel said to him in the lift down to the ground floor.

"I didn't watch you sleep in case you wondered," his pâtissier winked. "That's a little creepy."

Strangely enough Ciel agreed with him. Some people might think it was romantic, but he didn't share that opinion and he was glad to find that Sebastian didn't.

Tanaka waved at them when they came out the entrance and Ciel was reminded of the mysterious meeting between him and Sebastian. When had it happened?

"Thank you for taking care of the young master again," Tanaka said to Sebastian.

"I'm happy to help him anytime," Sebastian replied. "You still look the same."

Ciel felt the same frustration again. Why couldn't Sebastian or Tanaka tell him about their past encounter? He had almost forgotten about and now it was at the forefront of his mind again.

Sebastian turned to him and then pulled him for a sudden hug.

"Get some sleep and take care."

Ciel didn't have time to process the hug before Sebastian had left.

"Young master, are you dating Sebastian Michaelis?" Tanaka questioned.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sweet Temptations:**

 **Chapter 7:**

"Can we talk about this when I've actually had some sleep?" Ciel requested.

"If you prefer."

Tanaka opened the car door for him and he got in the back so he could be more comfortable. He put on his seatbelt and was asleep within seconds. The next thing he knew the car was in the drive outside his house and the sun was starting to set.

"Young master, I'm too old to be carrying you inside," Tanaka informed him. "If you want to actually sleep tonight, you need to be awake for the rest of the afternoon. I'll make you some tea."

Ciel yawned and took the hint. He felt awake enough now to not fall asleep for a few hours. Tanaka followed him in and led him to the kitchen. The butler filled the kettle and set up the crockery while the kettle boiled.

"Please could you clarify your relationship status with Sebastian Michaelis?" Tanaka asked again once he had served tea.

Ciel rearranged his rumpled hair and considered the question. Was Sebastian his friend? They were close enough now.

"I hired him and now he's... a friend."

Tanaka handed him his teacup with his preferred amount of sugar.

"I'm glad you have found a friend, young master. Do you perhaps get a feeling that Mr. Michaelis might want to be more than friends?"

Tanaka had a good point there. He had become so accustomed to all the pickup lines that they had lost their intended meaning. He was tempted to tell Tanaka some of them so he could see his reaction.

"He does say some very flirty things," he agreed. "He's just done them so often that I've got used to it."

His butler didn't say anything and sipped his own cup of tea. Ciel debated if he should see if Tanaka's stance on a certain subject had changed. His curiosity won out.

"Tanaka, when did I meet Sebastian first?"

His butler smiled gently over his teacup.

"I told you, I'm not telling you. You have to ask Sebastian or remember yourself. If I told you, it would spoil it for you."

That had to mean that something very important had happened between them. He really couldn't remember anything though. Was that random dream he had the previous week anything to do with it? Had he made a pinky promise?

"It wasn't when we were babies?"

Tanaka shook his head. "I don't think Mr Michaelis would remember me if he had been a baby at the time."

"Of course. Where did this meeting happen?" he probed, hoping Tanaka wouldn't clam up.

"At the manor."

That was interesting, not that it helped him much. Plenty of people had visited the manor before it burnt down. Perhaps he could ask Lizzie, she might have been there. The best people to ask would have been his parents, but they were no longer around and he still didn't know why they had died.

"Is it okay if I never remember this meeting?"

Tanaka refilled his empty teacup.

"Mr Michaelis doesn't seem to hold it against you," he commented. "There's a lot you don't remember in that time period sadly and you might never remember any of it. He will understand that."

So it was really around the time his parents had died. He was never going to remember it now. It annoying.

"I wouldn't dwell on it," his butler advised. "There's another matter I would like to discuss with you."

Ciel looked up fearfully. He had been dreading Tanaka asking to retire. He might as well move back in with Lizzie and her family if Tanaka left his employment. After he'd turned 18, he left the Midford's house and moved into the townhouse and sold off the land where the manor had been.

"I think you should take a holiday very soon, your health is taking a strain. You've had too many colds recently. Your father wouldn't have strained himself like this. You have many people working for you that could have helped you resolve the latest production issue. Ciel, you didn't have to do all by yourself," Tanaka told him.

Ciel listened silently. He knew Tanaka was right. His health was weak and the winter season always made it worse. He just didn't want to leave Funtom alone for too long, he had inherited it and he had to keep it going.

"There's a shareholder meeting I need to be at," he said weakly.

"Take a week's holiday after that," Tanaka said, his face was unusually stern and serious. "I don't mind where you go, I just don't want you anywhere near the office."

* * *

On the first day of his holiday, Ciel looked over the travel brochures Tanaka had procured for him. They were mostly for places he had wanted to go to as a child and had never had the opportunity. It was odd to look at some of them and remember asking to go there.

Maybe he was better off only looking at the ones in London. He didn't want to stray too far away. What if there was a problem at Funtom?

"Tower of London or London Eye?" he asked aloud and sighed.

He dialled Lizzie's number. He needed advice from someone that actually had a social life and wouldn't make fun of him for asking.

"You want travel advice from me?" she asked sounding very confused. "I thought you were just going to laze around the house."

"Tanaka is hinting that he wants me to leave the house at some point. Should I visit a tourist attraction?"

"I wouldn't go alone, you'll get crushed," she advised. "Take Tanaka with you?"

"I'm not taking my butler with me," Ciel retorted. "I'll stay at home."

He heard Edward's voice calling out Lizzie's name so he said good bye. She was going to be busy in his absence and wouldn't have time to give him tourist advice. Then he heard a shriek from Lizzie's end and he understood why once she mentioned a certain name.

"You might want to visit Funtom's Cakes," she said. "Aunt Ann and her partner visited this morning."

Ciel groaned. He didn't see his other aunt very often. She was a very busy socialite and was usually in other countries making a nuisance of herself. Her partner Grell was not one of Ciel's favourite people as Grell always saw him as a target for insults.

"Did she embarrass me?"

Lizzie didn't give much away. "Bardroy said she was all over Sebastian."

Sometimes Ciel wondered how Grell never minded when his aunt openly ogled over other people. He really was going to have to visit Funtom's Cakes to clear up any misunderstandings. Not that he would be able to look Sebastian in the face after knowing his aunt had been all over him.

"I understand. I'll go over there now."

"It's for the best." Lizzie was in agreement. "You can also ask Sebastian if he wants to go anywhere with you on your day off. Aren't you two friendly?"

Funtom's Cakes was bustling with people and Ciel was happy to see that customers were buying lots of cake which meant that the profits were good. He could only see a few free tables when he reached the counter.

The first employee to recognise him was Finny who the youngest member of staff and the most cheerful.

"Ciel! You're finally here, I haven't seen you for ages."

"You saw me last week," Ciel corrected, but he didn't mind.

Finny leaned over the counter and whispered something that was lost in the cacophony of noise around them. Ciel took a guess at the lost words. It wasn't hard.

"Is it about my aunt?"

Finny nodded and Ciel looked around fearfully. Was she still here? It had taken half an hour to reach the pâtisserie after getting ready. Hanging around was certainly not his aunt's style so she probably wasn't around.

"She left a while ago after causing some chaos. I'll tell you about it," Finny answered. "What would you like to order?"

Ciel surveyed the selection available. There was quite a range and he was a little disappointed to see a not available sign for the fondant fancies. He went for genoise cake and chocolate chip cookies. Finny gave him a staff discount and promised to visit his table.

He managed to find an empty table in the main seating area and dug into his sweet treats. The chocolate chip cookies tasted different to the ones Sebastian had made for him before. These ones tasted like the butter had been smoked.

Finny came into view bearing a tea tray that Ciel hadn't ordered.

"I've brought your tea," he said and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"Someone told your aunt that you're very close to Sebastian so she demanded to see him."

Ciel covered his face with his hands. Aunt Ann had forever mourned his lack of friends and romance so whenever it looked like he was close to someone, she evaluated them and made everything worse for him.

"Is Sebastian okay?"

Finny made a face and Ciel's imagination went into overdrive. Aunt Ann had probably stormed into the kitchen right in front of the customers.

"She and someone called Grell were really into him and kept asking him out."

Ciel had never felt so mortified in his life. What had he done to have Aunt Ann be related to him? However, it was interesting that Grell liked Sebastian as well. His pâtissier was very in demand.

"Grell was calling him 'Sebas-chan'. I think I heard that right," Finny continued on.

"They spend too much time in Japan." Ciel cringed at the mental image.

Finny shrugged. "I didn't know what it meant. Anyway, Sebastian is okay. He's in the kitchen, should I tell him to come out and see you?"

Ciel shook his head. He was too embarrassed to see Sebastian right now. Sebastian wouldn't want to be his friend anymore like everyone else when they met his aunt. It would have been less trouble for Sebastian to meet Aunt Frances. All she would have done was complain about his hair.

Finny left him after that and Ciel returned to eating. It could be worse; Aunt Ann could still be around. Knowing her she would turn up at his house later and give him her opinion.

"Can we sit here?" a polite female voice asked.

Ciel looked up to see a middle-aged couple standing by his table. He looked around to see that it was very busy again and there wasn't another table free.

"I'll go," he said, very keen to leave.

"Please don't, I wanted to talk you, Ciel," the woman said.

Ciel looked at her sharply. She was completely unfamiliar to him and so was the man. Judging from the wedding rings they were a married couple. Both had dark hair and the wife had red eyes.

"Why?" he asked simply.

"We haven't seen you since you were 10," the man said.

It began to dawn on him. He had a good idea who they were and they looked familiar the more he looked at them.

"Mr and Mrs Michaelis?" he asked doubtfully.

He was sure they were Sebastian's parents. They knew his name and they had the right characteristics. The woman he suspected of being Mrs Michaelis laughed.

"You must have recognised me," she said with a wide smile.

They sat down and Ciel stayed seated for the time being. He wasn't sure what they wanted to talk to him about. Personally, he had harboured no interest in ever meeting his business rivals in real life, hence his inability to recognise them. If they came to talk about business, he would just leave.

"You've grown up a lot since that party," Sebastian's father said. "You were so small and got on really well with Sebastian. We were sad that you two never met again until now."

Ciel realised that the answer to all his questions was very close by.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sweet Temptations:**

 **Chapter 8:**

Ciel sat there silently hoping that she wouldn't pause her reminisces and tell him he should remember himself like everyone else did. Fortunately for his curiosity she didn't stop.

"We had just come back from a short stay in America and your parents invited the three of us around for a friendly garden party. You see, at the time there was some talk of merging," she frowned. "That all ended the following week sadly."

It was clear what she was implying. It was no wonder he couldn't remember; his parents had died the week after.

"How friendly was I with Sebastian?"

Sebastian's mother smiled at him fondly.

"You were so shy with us, so we let you go off with Sebastian. You weren't so shy with him. He got you to try a cake he'd made to bring and you told him it was childishly made and wasn't flavoured right."

Ciel had a feeling the cake had been a Victoria sponge. Sebastian's disappointment at his lack of reaction made sense now. Sebastian had gone to a lot of trouble to try to recreate that moment.

"I swear your insult is why he's doing what he does now," Sebastian's father chipped in.

Ciel blinked. He was the reason behind Sebastian's pâtissier training? It was hard to believe that a mere insult could have that effect.

"He's a pâtissier because of me?"

Sebastian's father nodded. "You two made a promise."

Mrs Michaelis clasped her hands together and looked into the distance with a dreamy expression. Mr Michaelis on the other hand was staring at her doubtfully as if he was concerned for her sanity.

"It was such a sweet promise and to think it finally got fulfilled now..."

It was a lot to take in. Sebastian's mother was a little strange to say the least- that had to be where Sebastian had got it from. There was also the matter of a fulfilled promise which caused him to recall his odd dream.

"What was the promise?" he asked, not bothering to conceal his eagerness.

"It was a pinky promise mainly because Sebastian had learnt it in America."

That was like his dream, Ciel frowned. Maybe he did remember it somewhere in the back of his mind. Whether or not it was something he wanted to recall was another thing.

"I was disappointed by the use of a pinky promise. It doesn't have the same ring as 'cross your heart and hope to die, stick a needle in your eye'," Sebastian's father interjected.

Mrs Michaelis nudged him sharply with her elbow and glared at him.

"You've got no taste. It wouldn't be sweet if they said that."

Mr. Michaelis rolled his eyes. "Yes dear."

"What was-"

Ciel's very important question was cut off by the arrival of tea.

"Your tea is here," a familiar voice announced. "Drink it and go."

Ciel guessed that someone had told Sebastian about his parents arriving as he had come in person to deliver two cups of tea. His mother looked aggrieved with his abrupt request.

"I was having fun talking to Ciel," she protested.

"She was," Sebastian's father confirmed unnecessarily.

The pâtissier ignored him and served them tea without asking for milk and sugar preferences. Ciel was even more confused by the Michaelis family relations now. He had almost forgotten about his own relation's visit until Sebastian met his eyes and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is she really related to you?"

"She is," Ciel admitted. "I didn't know she was even in the country."

He watched Sebastian's face carefully for any signs of repulsion. Nothing appeared. He was more engaged with a staring contest with his mother.

"How much did you tell him?" Sebastian asked after minute.

"She spent most of the time going on how about how 'sweet' you two were," Mr Michaelis contributed helpfully. "Shall we go?"

"Please do."

Ciel had a lot of questions for all of them, but he settled for the most important one from a business perspective.

"Do you really not mind that I've hired your son? He was going for an interview at your company."

Sebastian's mother waved her hands. "No. I'm thrilled by the conclusion of 12 years in waiting."

Ciel's mind took a while to catch up. She had to be referring to the promise he and Sebastian had made 12 years ago that had apparently been fulfilled.

"They don't care much about what I do," Sebastian interrupted. "It's fine that way. I don't care about the company either."

"We're not leaving it to him," Mr Michaelis explained. "He's made it clear that all he wants to do is be your-"

"That will be enough from you two," Sebastian's voice was icy. "Get back to work."

Ciel was bemused by his behaviour. Sebastian had always remained friendly to a degree even to people like Beast yet he was very stern with his parents.

"We'll go," Sebastian's father volunteered and grasped his wife's arm. "Let's go. Ciel, I hope your venture does well."

"Do you mean that?" Ciel was sceptical for the obvious reason.

"Our pâtisserie is going to be completely different," Mr. Michaelis assured him and began to lead Sebastian's mother out. "We're not rivals in that yet."

Ciel and Sebastian watched them leave. It had been an informative five minutes for Ciel and an agonising period for Sebastian. Ciel settled for asking the least awkward question.

"Are they really your parents? They're completely different in personality."

Sebastian looked down at him. "I could say the same about your aunt."

He had a point there. Sebastian took the seat next to Ciel without asking and stared at him for a moment.

"I have an idea what they talked about. Did they mention anything about a promise?"

"They did. They didn't get to tell me what it was."

It felt childish to complain about it, but Ciel was annoyed with all the unnecessary secrecy surrounding their first meeting. Couldn't someone just tell him?

"That's good," Sebastian commented in satisfaction. "I'll get back to the kitchen in a while. I see from your lack of formal clothes, you're on holiday."

Ciel narrowed his eyes at the subject change. "What promise did we make? I know it was a pinky promise."

"I'm not telling you," Sebastian said simply. "It won't mean much if I have to remind you of it. Lizzie won't tell you either. Tanaka won't know."

"I thought your mother said it had concluded meaning we've fulfilled it."

"I'm not going to say," Sebastian said, his tone was final and Ciel wasted a second wondering if Sebastian would be a much better manager than Bardroy.

His pâtissier turned to leave and Ciel desperately tried to come up with something to make him stay so he could interrogate him more.

"Would you like to go somewhere with me this week?"

It took Sebastian less than a second to turn back. "Of course, where would you like to go?"

"Can you choose? There isn't anywhere I want to go."

Sebastian ruffled his hair and Ciel glared at him. He hated having his hair touched.

"I'll choose somewhere."

That night Ciel lay down in bed and fumed. He was wide awake with frustration. Why would no one tell him anything? He was 22 not a child.

He decided to go through the facts he had. It seemed to be a good place to start.

12 years ago he had met Sebastian's parents at a party. He had dissed Sebastian's baking efforts and had made a pinky promise. Apparently this promise had been fulfilled. The degree of unfulfillment was unknown as if it had been properly fulfilled there would be no need for secrecy.

Ciel put his overactive mind to work coming up with solutions.

Meet again? That had happened.

Hire me. He had fulfilled that.

He scowled and folded his arms. Ciel couldn't think of what it was.

Hire me and date me?

Did 12 years olds say that? Ciel had no idea. Teenagers these days were more outgoing than he remembered. A modern one might. 24-year-old Sebastian was a flirt, had 12 year old Sebastian been the same?

"I don't care." He tried to convince himself. "I really don't care."

He kept telling himself that and closed his eyes. Tomorrow he would tell everyone involved that he didn't care if they kept it secret.

Sleep took a long time to arrive for him and when it did it was restless. Eventually he fell into a dream from his childhood.

Ciel reached his hand out into the rosebush to pick out his favourite flower. It was a warm summer day and he was supposed to be on his best behaviour for some party or another. Tanaka had told him this was one of the more important ones.

"Ciel, the Michaelises are here!" his mother announced loudly. "Come over here and make yourself presentable."

He didn't answer and waited for her to find him. His mother's head soon emerged over the rose bush and she smiled down at him.

"I thought you would be here. It won't be too boring for you. They have a son who is only a year older than you."

He let her lead him to the veranda where there were three people waiting. The older man and woman were obviously Mr and Mrs Michaelis. The lanky male was obviously their son. Ciel was personally more interested in the cake he was holding than in socialising with him like he was supposed to.

He had already had his share of the party cake on the sly. Tanaka had slipped him some when his parents weren't looking. However more cake was always fine.

His father was already socialising with them and Ciel met eyes with the son and then averted them. His mother pushed him forward.

"You can go with him. But say hello to Mr and Mrs Michaelis first."

"...Hello," he mumbled.

"Sorry, he's shy," his mother said on his behalf like she always did.

"He's adorable." Mrs Michaelis reached out to tweak his cheek and he stepped back.

"He can go with Sebastian," Vincent suggested. "Ciel, he brought cake."

"I can see," Ciel muttered.

Sebastian introduced himself with significantly less awkwardness and they went over to the table of refreshments Tanaka had set up in the garden. Ciel demanded a cup of tea with four cubes of sugar which Sebastian complied with. Then Sebastian cut a slice of the cake he had brought with him and neatly plated it for Ciel.

"I'm hoping to get into baking, can you give me your opinion?"

Ciel accepted the cake and chewed a mouthful. It looked all right and had a good texture. However, Ciel was also a very strict critic as a result of eating significant amounts of cake.

"It tastes like a child made it. Too much sugar and vanilla, it's a little too flat. It needs more volume, did you even use the right flour?"

Sebastian looked taken aback at the harsh comments and he looked less confident.

"...Thank you for your criticism, I guess," he replied hestitantly.

"I'll give it to you anytime," Ciel offered and had another bite. "You'd better improve. If you're good enough when I take over the company, you can work for me."

It was a bold claim to make considering it might not still be going when he was the right age to be taking over, but both accepted it. Sebastian held out his shortest finger.

"Promise?"

Ciel looked at the outstretched finger with a judging eye.

"What's the finger for?"

"A pinky promise. We've just been to America and they do it all the time there. Just link yours with mine."

Ciel followed suit and they shook fingers.

"I promise to become a pâtissier for you," Sebastian proclaimed with renewed confidence.

"I promise to hire you if you meet my standards," Ciel agreed solemnly.

Sebastian added something in at the last minute. "We also promise to date."


	9. Chapter 9

**Sweet Temptations:**

 **Chapter 9:**

Ciel woke up to the sounds of bird chirping outside his window and hid his face in his pillow in mortification. He remembered everything now. The worst thing was that he had agreed to the second part of the promise in a heartbeat. What kind of child had he been then?

Now that he remembered things made more sense now. It wouldn't be appropriate for Sebastian or anyone that knew about it to tell him that he had agreed to date Sebastian when he was 10. He would have never believed them.

How was he going to face Sebastian now? To think that he had been worried yesterday because of Aunt Ann felt silly now. No, this was true embarrassment. There were also at least four other people that knew about it as well. He was glad they hadn't told him after all that.

Sebastian had become a pâtissier and he had hired him for his pâtisserie when they met again. He had followed that part of the promise without knowing. Did he want to follow through the second part?

His phone buzzed. Ciel picked it up off his bedside table and panicked when he saw it was Sebastian's number. He had to act normal and pretended he hadn't remembered anything. Ciel needed time to think everything over.

He took a deep breath and accepted the call.

"Hello?"

"I'm outside your house," Sebastian said without greeting first. "We're going out today."

Immediately Ciel got out of bed and peeked out the curtains. His window gave him a good view of the front garden and true enough there was a figure standing at the gate that looked like Sebastian. The figure waved at him and Ciel knew he had been spotted. Damn Sebastian's observational skills.

"Right now?" he asked doubtfully. "I'm still in bed."

"I'll make you breakfast," Sebastian offered.

Ciel couldn't produce a good enough reason to refuse so he went downstairs to find Tanaka. The butler in the kitchen polishing the silverware with the radio on.

"Sebastian's here, can you let him in and keep him occupied until I'm ready," he requested and left the room without waiting for the answer. He needed time to calm down and make himself look presentable.

* * *

Half an hour later he heard footsteps that weren't Tanaka's approach his bedroom. It was obviously Sebastian, but he was ready for him now.

There was a knock at the door and Ciel opened it. Sebastian was standing outside with a steaming cup of tea.

"Tanaka said I couldn't make you in breakfast in bed because you're not ill," he explained. "I made you a lot downstairs."

He accepted the tea and followed Sebastian down the stairs and into the dining room where the table was covered with breakfast items. Ciel could see standard items like toast and less commonplace ones like scones. Was that really a plateful of spinach he could see?

"Are you on a mission to fatten me up?" Ciel asked.

"I don't know what you like for breakfast," Sebastian explained.

Ciel sat down at the head of the table and Sebastian sat down on the next chair. He doubted that anyone in the 21st century would want spinach for breakfast and scones were more of an afternoon snack.

"I came here early so I didn't eat," the pâtissier informed him. "Think of it as a breakfast date."

The memory from 12 years ago came back to him and he blushed. At some point he was going to have to admit remembering it. The time hadn't come yet. He needed to evaluate everything first.

"Sure," he said casually and reached out for the toast. "Where are we going today?"

Sebastian took the toast rack after he had finished choosing and picked out a slice for himself.

"I asked Tanaka for his opinion because he knows you better and he said to go somewhere that doesn't have too much tourist traffic because you don't like crowds."

"That's right."

"I also took your age into account and what I know about you. We're going somewhere quiet," Sebastian continued on and passed him the strawberry jam.

Ciel was glad for that. He spent most of his time in the office, in the car or at home so going to a congested area of London sounded like hell.

"I'm driving so we don't have to get the tube. It's going to take a while," Sebastian warned. "How is the jam? I made it myself."

Ciel was truthful for the first time that morning.

"It's good."

"Make sure you try everything, I made a lot for you."

* * *

A very stuffed Ciel got into the front seat of Sebastian's car. Somehow he had been persuaded into eating a bit of everything apart from the spinach and he was feeling oddly full of food that wasn't cake. That was very rare.

"The gardens are not too far, but we have to pass through some congested areas so be prepared to be stuck in traffic," Sebastian warned as he started the car.

Ciel nodded. Getting to the office normally involved at least ten minutes in very slow moving traffic.

"You can talk to me when it gets boring," his pâtissier added.

It was strange to compare adult Sebastian with his child self. Not a lot had changed to be honest apart from baking skills. He was touched to think that Sebastian had gone through all his pâtissier training to make sure he kept his promise.

Was it all a coincidence that he had the idea to expand Funtom by setting up a pâtisserie? The idea had come to him mainly after Michaelis Confectionery had tested theirs, but it had been at the back of his mind for a while. Perhaps some part of him had remembered and was trying to keep the promise as well.

"I'll keep that in mind. Which gardens are we actually going to?"

"Kyoto Gardens in Holland Park. It's very quiet and suitable for dates," Sebastian answered.

Ciel didn't bother to protest that it wasn't a date because it technically was. Sebastian looked surprised he hadn't complained.

Did he even like Sebastian in that way? Childhood promises aside, did he really want to date him? He made exceedingly good sweet treats which was very important to Ciel. He didn't mind being in his company. But did that all mean that he liked him in a romantic way. He was confused.

"You're quiet today," Sebastian commented at the sixth red light in a row.

"I am?"

Ciel hadn't said anything because he was overthinking everything. It had been easier just to look out the window.

"You haven't asked what's for lunch."

Ciel turned his head to look at the picnic hamper that was on the backseat. It was almost too easy to answer.

"Picnic."

Sebastian didn't try to make any more attempts at conversation until they were safely parked and when he did, he dropped a bombshell.

"If you carry on being so quiet, I'll definitely know you remember a certain something."

Ciel's head snapped around. How had Sebastian known that he had remembered? He still wasn't ready to say anything to he started talking about the first subject that came into his head.

"You're nothing like your parents."

Sebastian seemed to accept the rapid change in subject matter. Or at least he did for the moment.

"Thank you for the compliment. I wouldn't want to be like them," he replied and undid his seatbelt. "Let's not waste time. We're going to have to walk for a while to get to the gardens.

Ciel got out the car and shivered. He would need his scarf after all. Fortunately it wasn't raining, they were outside a park so it wasn't going to be fun if it was wet.

"We have to go through the park first," Sebastian announced. "Do you want to hold my hand so we don't get lost in the crowds?"

His tone was too teasing for Ciel to bear so he deliberately put his hands in his pockets. Not that he would have held hands with him anyway.

"No."

"Do you know how expensive it is to have a house near here?" Sebastian asked when they reached the woodland area and it was finally quiet enough to hear each other.

"Very expensive," Ciel answered. "It's outside my price range personally and not worth it. Where I live now has been in the Phantomhive family for a few centuries and is now very high value."

Sebastian nodded. "When we're together, I'll move in with you. Your house is much grander than mine."

Ciel tried not to react to the assumption that he and Sebastian were going to be together in the future. Sebastian had a lot of ridiculous assumptions about their relationship.

"I'll make you breakfast every morning."

That actually sounded very tempting to Ciel. He was usually a cup of tea with toast and jam person normally. This morning's breakfast had been a culinary experience in comparison.

"We're here," Sebastian said.

The tree lined path opened up into a garden that was styled after traditional Japanese gardens. Ciel was intrigued and was content seeing how few people were around.

"There's a carp pond here," his childhood acquaintance added. "It's very relaxing to watch."

"Let's go there," Ciel agreed.

They walked past a small waterfall and Ciel felt a little more at ease the further they went. He stayed away from the peacocks though. They were a little terrifying to him. It didn't help that some were tall compared to him.

"It's here," Sebastian said.

Ciel bent down to have a closer look. The pond was indeed full of red flecked orange carp flitting around. It was strangely compelling to watch all the carp swim around.

"Are we going to discuss the promise we made 12 years ago?"

Sebastian's voice sounded like it had come from very far away and Ciel started. He had completely forgotten for five minutes about what had been awaiting him.

"I've waited for a long time," Sebastian said. "Can you tell me if your feelings have changed?"

Ciel was keen to start off by correcting him. "I never said I liked you 12 years ago. We just made that promise and talked a lot."

Sebastian wasn't perturbed.

"I sensed you had a crush on me. Do you still have one?"

Ciel was a taken aback by Sebastian's audacity. He could tell that Sebastian assumed that the answer would be yes.

He would have to answer carefully. It was true that his child self had thought Sebastian was cool. He was good at cooking and taking care of him. But there were other people that did that and he didn't love them in a romantic way.

"I enjoy your company," he began. "You're efficient and I can tell you're intelligent. You fulfil all the requirements. I... do like you."

Sebastian leaned in closer.

"Romantically?"

"Yes," Ciel replied very quietly.

Sebastian's face was now so close that their foreheads were touching.

"Can I kiss you?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Sweet Temptations:**

 **Chapter 10:**

"We're in public," Ciel protested with a very red face. Then he realised he should be protesting about Sebastian wanting to kiss him.

"No one's looking," Sebastian whispered seductively.

Ciel looked around. It was true, there weren't many people around in the gardens and they were looking at other attractions. He turned back at Sebastian again, his childhood acquaintance was still staring deeply into his eyes.

"You may."

Sebastian obeyed the order and gently gave him a kiss on the lips. It was surprisingly soft and he didn't take it any further.

"I won't take it too far," he explained. "I'm your first kiss after all."

Ciel felt his cheeks were calming down gradually and managed to look Sebastian in the eye without blushing again. It was hard to considering he had just admitted to liking him and been kissed.

"Thanks," he said and held out his hand. "We can look around some other places."

Sebastian's reaction was to smile widely and take his hand.

"Let's go."

* * *

In the afternoon Sebastian had to return to Funtom's Cakes for his late shift. Ciel was torn between wanting someone efficient in the kitchen at the pâtisserie or allowing his new boyfriend to have a day off so he could be with him more. In the end the money won out.

"Are you two bumming now?" Bardroy asked when he saw them walk in together with their hands linked. He looked delighted to see them.

Ciel took a moment to process the meaning and his face heated up instantly. Sebastian covered his ears with a tight grip before reprimanding Bardroy.

"Don't use such crude language in front of Ciel."

Bardroy shrugged. "He understood what I meant. Should I ask if you're doing each other yet instead?"

Despite the hands over his ears Ciel could hear all of it and he'd had enough of the language. He removed Sebastian's hands and kept hold of one of them.

"Bardroy, you're not exactly been professional at the moment. I'll bring it up in your review," he paused before answering Bardroy's question maturely. "We've only just started going out this morning so the answer is no."

Was that disappointment he could see on Bardroy's face? Why were outside parties interested in everyone elses' love lives? He sighed. There was just one thing he had to say.

"Don't spread it around."

Sebastian had something different to say.

"You can tell everyone. They already know I'm gay, telling them I have a boyfriend won't be a shock."

Ciel was about to protest that he personally had a reputation to maintain and decided against it. He wasn't a public figure or the publicly known face of Funtom. It wouldn't matter that it got out that he had a boyfriend. His shareholders shouldn't care either.

"Just don't discuss our sex lives," he demanded and thought of something else. He was getting to know the staff's personalities quite well. "No betting either."

Bardroy's mouth twitched. "I didn't participate in any bets. I've just been cheering from the side-lines. You can ask Sebastian."

He looked at Sebastian for confirmation and the pâtissier ignored him in favour of staring into Ciel's eyes.

"I'm going to the kitchen, you can watch me if you like."

"Will it affect your efficiency?" Ciel questioned. He still had profit to think about.

"I'll work harder under your unnerving gaze," Sebastian promised.

That was quite a line. Ciel didn't mind the implication though. He followed Sebastian to the kitchen and watched him start preparing by lining cake tins and preheating the oven. Sebastian looked up at him once he had finished preparing.

"If you care about my efficiency, come and help me."

Ciel was less fond of that idea. Being someone that loved cake he had tried many times over the years to replicate his favourites. The most recent attempt had ended with Tanaka banning him from using the kitchen. He wasn't fond of the idea of ruining Funtom's Cakes' state of the art kitchen that he had paid for.

"I can't bake," he mumbled.

"I know- that's why I'm only entrusting you with the ingredients."

Sebastian really did know him well. Ciel glanced over at the other kitchen workers who were attempting to discreetly stare at them and were failing miserably. He gave them a sharp glare and they all moved further away.

"Can't your minions do it for you? They need something to do, I'm not paying them to stand around."

"Pretend you aren't their boss' boss and just help me," Sebastian instructed. "I'll give them something to do in a moment."

Ciel let himself be helped into an apron and Sebastian handed him a white hat. Sebastian sent the other workers out with a list of ingredients and Ciel breathed a sigh of relief. He felt less self-conscious now.

He followed the amounts he had been given and between them they made a red velvet cake. Ciel admired its neat and colourful appearance for a moment and went to find a cake slice so he could try it.

"You're depriving yourself of profit," Sebastian reminded him when he came back with it. "Just ask me to move in with you and I'll make it for you anytime."

Ciel flushed. It was too much at once for him at once. He needed to think about everything calmly.

"I know we made a promise a long time ago, but you're moving too fast. I've only just agreed to like you, yet you're asking to move in. What's Tanaka going to say?"

"He knows about the promise."

That was a point, Sebastian had him there. Ciel settled for a weak response.

"Well, you're not moving in today."

* * *

"You look refreshed," Lizzie observed the following week.

Ciel's week of holiday had passed annoyingly fast. He had spent some time every day with Sebastian. Sometimes it had been only the evening or his lunch breaks due to Sebastian's work hours. His boyfriend had stopped dropping hints about moving in in favour of kissing him. Ciel didn't mind the change.

"I feel better," he replied.

He hadn't told her about Sebastian yet. The antagonism between them hadn't been missed by him.

"You should tell Sebastian to stop leaving love bites above your neckline," she said. "You have a meeting today. I'll get some concealer."

"I told him not to," he groaned. "Is it petty if I give him a paycut? How did you know it was him?"

He remembered that she was the sociable one in his family. Someone at Funtom Cakes had probably passed the knowledge onto her. She would have also known about the promise because she had been present at the same party 12 years ago. He vaguely remembered that her family had arrived a little after Sebastian's and he'd ignored her completely.

"It is petty," she agreed. "I told Sebastian that he couldn't tell you about the promise and if you never remembered, he would have to start from the beginning."

Ciel realised that Sebastian had cheated her. He had given him hints instead with the new pinky promise and the Victoria sponge. He definitely couldn't tell her that.

"That was considerate of you," he replied. "Do you approve of him?"

Lizzie laughed. "You don't have to ask me for approval- I'm not your parents. I personally wouldn't have matched you two together, but he makes you happy so I'm happy."

Unknowingly her comment had brought one of Ciel's insecurities about his relationship with Sebastian to the surface.

"Would my parents approve of him?"

"They knew about the promise. Everyone at the party overheard it. You two weren't exactly quiet. Vincent said it would never happen and your mother thought it was cute."

Neither of those sounded like approval from his parents. It didn't matter, they weren't around to disapprove. He took that thought back immediately. It would be better if they were still alive, how could he have thought that?

He shook his head to banish the thought and became aware that Lizzie was giving him a pitying look.

"Ciel, don't take that to heart. You were 10 at the time, no one would have expected either of you two fulfil the first part of the promise let alone the second. In fact, I think if he was still here, your father would approve."

"Why?"

"Because it's profitable," Lizzie giggled. "Sebastian's the main star of Funtom's Cakes and the profits are still steadily rising. Vincent would have loved that, you know what he was like about making money."

She was right. His father would have cared about the money he was making first. Lizzie pulled him for a hug.

"There's one person that we're related to who definitely won't approve of you two."

Ciel panicked for a moment and then he caught onto who Lizzie was referring to. There was an easy solution to that issue.

"All he has to do is change his hairstyle to get Aunt Frances' approval."

"That's true. I'll warn him in advance if she plans to visit," Lizzie replied and let him go. "Are you seeing him today?"

"He's coming around this evening. What's the meeting about?" Ciel asked and started looking through the untidy pile of paperwork Mey-Rin had left on his desk. "I haven't had a chance to catch up."

"It's about going forward with the plan to open other branches of Funtom Cakes," Lizzie told him. "Everyone is pleased with the profit trajectory to consider opening other ones."

* * *

 **Six months later:**

"You never come here anymore," Bardroy whined at Ciel. "Do you not love Sebastian anymore?"

Ciel rolled his eyes at Bardroy. He had come to give the manager a review and now it had finished Bardroy was an emotional mess about his absence. Ciel felt like it was overreaction. Technically he didn't even need to give Bardroy the review himself anymore, he had other people in charge of the patisseries. He just wanted to visit this branch.

"I saw him this morning, I live with him," he replied. "I have a lot of other places to visit. There's three other branches in London alone."

"I know that," Bardroy said petulantly. "Sebastian's much nicer to me when you're around."

A dark shadow fell over him. Ciel looked up to see his boyfriend standing in the open doorway with a tea tray. It was a welcome sight.

"Don't make me look bad in front of Ciel," Sebastian said. "He might kick me out."

As he approached Ciel saw what was on the tray. It was a Victoria sponge cake with two cups of tea. Ciel waited for Sebastian to find a way to remove Bardroy from his own office. It was something he did every time and Bardroy never noticed it was deliberate.

"Bardroy, there's an altercation at the counter. Go and help Sullivan out," Sebastian informed him.

The manager heaved himself off his chair and rushed down the stairs. Ciel stared after him and smirked at Sebastian.

"Is it true?"

"It looked like it was about to happen when I walked through," Sebastian answered in a casual tone and sat down in the vacant chair. "We have some time together."

Ciel had more of a bone to pick with the choice of cake than with Sebastian's casual approach to customer complaints.

"Why is it Victoria sponge again? You make it too often."

"Because it has a meaning to both of us. Don't worry, I made this one to the best of my ability."

Ciel was won over by that and cut a slice to try it. It was perfectly aerated and flavoured and he sighed in contentment. He felt Sebastian's gaze and decided to ask something that he had been wondering about since he remembered their promise.

"Did my negative review of your cake all those years ago bother you enough to become a pâtissier?"

Sebastian looked amused. "I had made cakes before that and everyone that tried them told me they were wonderful. I felt they were all lying so to have someone around my age tell me the truth was helpful. You were also very cute so I made that second part of the promise. It wasn't just your unflinching criticism that attracted me to you."

Ciel smiled. "You're very complimentary today. I like it."

Sebastian leaned forward and Ciel recognised the signs of a snog coming. His phone buzzed and his boyfriend moved back with a pout.

"You're always busy."

"I'll see you at home," Ciel said and took out his phone to see a message from Mey-Rin. "I really have to get back now."

Sebastian saw him out and asked his own question.

"I know you visit other branches sometimes, are there any pâtissiers better than me?"

"Of course they aren't," Ciel answered. "I let Lizzie do the hiring this time because I knew no one would compare to you."

That line caused Sebastian to pull him in for a deep kiss in front of all the customers and Ciel didn't bother to complain. He had told the truth; Sebastian was his favourite pâtissier.

Their promise from 12 years ago had been completely fulfilled.

 **The End**

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who supported this story.**


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